Breathless
by Aetherschreiber
Summary: Tag for "The Witchfinders." The Doctor shows Graham, Ryan, and Yaz just how she was able to hold her breath for so long.


Just a little tag to episode eight of series eleven.

* * *

Apparently, King James had ended up being as good as his word and had taken the story of their adventures finding witches - who actually turned out to be mud-based alien terrorists, will wonders never cease - to the grave without so much as even writing down a word of it. Graham was thankful for that. He wasn't sure that he would be able to wrap his brain around history recording something different from what he remembered. He had asked the Doctor about that shortly after their incident with Rosa Parks. He had wanted to know what would have happened if they hadn't succeeded in making certain that particular point in history had been preserved.

The Doctor had promptly launched into a frenzied and frenetic explanation about paradoxes and whatnot that Graham hadn't really followed. He was pretty sure there was something in there about the universe imploding. It was somewhere in between the "wibbly" part and the "wobbly" part. She had then moved on to explain the difference between fixed and non-fixed points in time. Graham didn't really follow that either. It was sometime after their run-in with Yaz's nan in the Punjab on Partition Day that he had given up trying to follow it and decided to just enjoy the ride.

At least, as much as one could enjoy having been witness to a senseless murder by a mob. Really a mixed bag, all this...

As Graham watched the Doctor flitter about the console in a flurry of movement and switch-flipping, he absently hoped for another trip into the future. The past was turning out to be grim, as far as the Human condition went. Every single time they had been met with Humans treating each other like garbage for little more than being a little different and he was a little tired of it.

Finally, the Doctor stepped back from the console, absently munching on a custard-cream and watching the giant crystal in the center bobbing up and down with satisfaction.

"Imagine that's a sight that King James won't forget too soon, yeah?" Yaz mused from her place leaning against one of the nearby crystalline pillars that framed the console.

"I just hope it doesn't make him think we're evil again," Ryan commented from nearby, glancing over at Yaz with his arms crossed over his chest, "I don't really get how this thing works. I can only imagine what it's like for him."

"Oi! She's not a thing!" The Doctor corrected around a mouthful of biscuit. "Careful, you'll hurt her feelings!" Swallowing her snack, she gave the console an affectionate pat, cooing something to it under her breath. Graham couldn't help but give a smile.

"Just one question, Doc," he said, finally giving into the last nagging curiosity he had left from their most recent adventure in the 1700s. "When Becca had you on the ducking stool, you were under water for a long time. Not to mention the time it took you to swim to shore again. No one can hold their breath that long. How'd you manage it?"

The Doctor looked back up at him, the little dimple in her forehead popping out again as she furrowed her brow in confusion. "I told you," she said, "good at holding my breath. And Houdini."

"Even Houdini couldn't go that long," Yaz put in.

"Yeah, Doctor, that was an inhuman amount of time," Ryan agreed, "c'mon, tell us how you did it."

"Not Human, remember?" The Doctor replied, looking a little like she was explaining things to children. "Certain advantages to being a Time Lord."

"Well, sure, but how's it work?" Graham pressed, his curiosity only being fueled. "I mean, I know you got two hearts and all. You got an extra set of lungs in there, too?"

"Sort of yeah," The Doctor said, then her expression changed to one of befuddlement as she considered. "Sorta no? Sorta kinda!" She stopped there, looking to the three Humans again and seemed to be surprised that she was still met with blank stares. "I know!" she exclaimed with a grin, "I'll show you! C'mon, to the pool!"

As the Doctor darted across the console room, making for the door to the interior of the Tardis, she wrestled out of her coat. As she went through the door, she left it on a nearby peg. She didn't even look back to see if the three of them were following her, just trusted that they would. Yaz looked over to Graham and Ryan and just gave a shrug, then followed at a slightly more sedate pace. Graham and Ryan then ventured inside as well, wearing mildly befuddled expressions.

They caught up with the Doctor again just as she came to a halt near a particular door. "Hope she hasn't moved it again," she mused.

The Doctor opened the door on a vast room, its walls lined with shelves stretching three stories up at least. They were lined with small artifacts and devices and thousands upon thousands of books. The familiar old paper smell of a library tickled Graham's nose as he entered.

"Nope," said the Doctor, "still in the Library, then."

"The pool is in the library?" Yaz asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, the Tardis likes it that way," the Doctor replied, strolling into the vast chamber and leading the way through rows of stately wooden shelving. "Makes it nice and easy to find something to do while you're sitting in the hot tub. Ooh! Hot tub book club! There's an idea! Wonder if the Inklings might be interested. I should drop in on them again."

Finally, the group rounded a corner into a larger area beneath a clear glass dome. The carpet that was near the bookshelves gave way to an ornate tile floor in the center of which was situated a large, lavish pool. It actually looked like it had been landscaped more than built. Graham could see all the way to the bottom through the crystal clear water and noted that it looked like it was covered in smooth, rounded rocks, like on the bottom of a river. One end of the pool sloped into the water like a beach. In fact, there was even sand, though it didn't seem to be stirred up at all by the water. At the deep end, there was a large boulder set against what appeared to be a three-story-tall cliffside. Water flowed down a smoothly-carved groove in one side of the boulder, emptying into the pool, looking for all the world like a water slide. The other side had a bit of an overhang, as if mimicking a diving board. Stairs were carved into the cliffside leading to the top.

"Oh! You redecorated the pool, too!" The Doctor exclaimed exclaimed to the open air. "I like it!"

"Oh, I am definitely going to be spending some time in here!" Yaz exclaimed, looking about with the expression of a child who had just been taken to the water park for the first time. "It doesn't even smell like chlorine!"

"Nah, don't need it," the Doctor said with a dismissive wave, "best filtration system in the galaxy." She came to a halt about foot from the edge of the deep end. "Now, then, I need a volunteer to time me."

With a nod, Ryan obliged, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket and pulling up the stopwatch function on it. "Yeah, I got it," he said, "but what's this going to show us?"

"The water should be clear enough here, not like that lake," the Doctor explained, "just keep an eye out. Observation time! A keen eye is your best friend. And go!"

With that, the Doctor calmly stepped backward and plunged into the pool with a splash and Ryan's phone gave a beep as he started the stopwatch. With a jolt, Graham realized that she had dived right in fully clothed. He was about to shout a protest, but decided that it wasn't worth it. She was already beneath the water, so there wasn't much to be done, at this point.

As the bubbles from her dive subsided, the Doctor came to rest at the bottom of the deep end, settling into a seated position there, cross-legged and calm. In short order, she became completely still.

A minute passed. The water became as still as it had been before the Doctor had jumped in. She remained on the bottom, sitting comfortably.

Another minute went by and there was still no change.

When the stopwatch passed three minutes, Graham couldn't help but chime in with worry. "She is okay down there, right?" he asked.

"Well, she doesn't look like she's having a problem at all," Yaz said, "at least not as I can see. I did a little bit of water rescue training, but not much."

The four minute mark passed. As if sensing her companions' concern, the Doctor tilted her head back and looked up at them with a grin and a thumbs up.

"How's she doing that?" Graham asked in wonder.

As if to answer, the Doctor pointed to them and then to her eyes.

"We're supposed to be seeing something, I guess," Yaz surmised, "but she's just sitting there."

"No wait!" Ryan exclaimed. "I think I see something moving, right around her diaphragm. You see that? It's like she's breathing, but... not...?"

Graham took another look at the Doctor, still sitting at the bottom of the pool. Sure enough, just as Ryan had noted, there was an odd section of her abdomen that was working furiously, fluttering in and out like the lungs of an exhausted runner. But it was a very odd place for such a motion. It was definitely too low to be lungs and it was sort of off to one side.

"What... is that?" he couldn't help but ask. Neither Ryan nor Yaz seemed to have an answer.

Five minutes passed... seven... ten...

"How long's she gonna stay down there do you think?" Ryan mused, casting glances back and forth between his phone and the water.

Finally, Graham had had enough. "I think we get the point, Doc!" he yelled downward, cupping a hand around his mouth to try and project the sound through the water.

The Doctor grinned up at them again, then nonchalantly pushed herself off the bottom, swimming toward the surface as if she had just gone under the water from a dive a mere moment before. She took a deep breath when her head broke the surface, though it wasn't particularly urgent. Her wet hair clung to the sides of her face and she pushed it back as she swam over to the edge of the pool.

"So," she said, leaning her elbows on the edge and looking up at them, beaming, "observations?"

"Other than Time Lords not believing in swimwear?" Yaz cracked with a bit of a laugh.

"This already got wet twice today," the Doctor replied with a shrug, "c'mon, you must have noticed something."

"There was... some part of you that was doing something," Ryan said, "like you were breathing, but... kind of in the wrong place?" Absently, he put a hand to the same spot on his own abdomen.

"Points to Ryan!" The Doctor exclaimed, pushing back from the edge and leaning into the water to float on her back. "My people have this thing," she said, "sort of a cheat, really. Respiratory bypass. Can sort of recycle a single breath for a while, getting every last bit of oxygen out of it. Can't stay under indefinitely, but it buys some time. Comes in handy on days like today."

"Not so much Houdini, then?" Graham put in.

"Well, he did give me some pointers once," the Doctor replied, absently beginning to move about the pool slowly, still looking upward. "I can teach you if you want."

Yaz's face broke into a wide, excited grin. In short order, she was taking off her outermost layers and kicking off her socks and shoes. Before Graham had a chance to ask what she was doing, she took a running jump off the edge of the pool, canon-balling into the water with a large splash. Looking a little surprised, the Doctor was knocked off of her gentle backfloat and sat up to tread water again as Yaz came up to the surface a few feet from her.

"No time like the present," Yaz said.

"How about you two?" the Doctor asked, looking over to Graham and Ryan. The latter was already pulling off his socks and rolling back the cuffs of his trousers.

"Think I'll just dangle my feet in for now," he commented with a bit of a nervous look, the same one he always had when he wasn't sure he was able to do something.

"Graham?" the Doctor asked.

"Nah," Graham replied with a wave. He turned and began to wander back toward the rest of the library. "Think I've had enough of water for one day. Think I'll go take a look around this library of yours."

"All right, but stay out of the history section for now," the Doctor cautioned, "don't need you learning about anything you shouldn't. Paradox is a real pain."

"Fiction only, I promise," Graham affirmed.

As he continued onward, turning back around the corner from which they had originally come, he heard the Doctor, Yaz, and Ryan taking on a bright tone. It probably wouldn't be long before Yaz and the Doctor convinced his step-grandson to try a swim. It was inevitable, really, and that was a good thing. It was nice to see Ryan finally pushing his boundaries a little. Grace would have been beaming.

Graham paused just out of sight of the pool listening to their banter. It really was a wonder, all of this. Sometimes he would think about what things would be like if the Doctor hadn't literally dropped in on their lives. Inevitably, that would lead him to thinking of Grace, wishing she was still there. But, he would also picture her punching him on the shoulder and telling him not to mope and to enjoy the opportunities the Doctor gave them to explore. She would have loved all this, especially what it had done for her grandson.

Sometimes, just thinking about it all left him... well... breathless.

* * *

I actually didn't think the on-screen time that the Doctor was underwater was all that long, but I suppose there was probably some "speed of plot" going on there. I'm assuming it was several minutes, at least. I was kind of surprised we didn't get a mention of the respiratory bypass, though. So, plot bunny took hold and here we are.

Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
